As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I collect Bibles, not by choice, but the thrift store gives them away, and as I have a need to examine different translations, it sort of fits with the program..........plus I pick up every Catholic text to save the Faithful from the Vatican as much as I can.
As of late I have been fortunate to come across numerous translations. One in particular I have come across which I am fond of, in the Tyndale House version from 1996 AD in the year of our Lord. Where the Living Bibles, lose so much in Biblical perspective and lack in prose, this Tyndale is an interesting meld of King James and modern English.
I like using different texts. The Amplified is something I enjoy, but it is wordy. I dislike most modern translations in the latter half of the 20th Century, as they feel dead to me, or void of the Spirit of God.
What the focus of this examination is though one I located today, in the Moffatt or James Moffatt translation from the 1930's era. I had always heard that Herbert W. Armstrong utilized this translation on his programs, but upon reading it today, I was utterly disappointed.
Moffatt is clinical, textbook, and while he claims his wording is more poignant, his translation is off in the emotional feel of the words in the Word.
The best way to explain this is to place three translations side by side, and allow you to decide.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. KJV
In the beginning God, created the heavens and the earth. Tyndale.
When God began to form the universe, Moffatt
John 1:1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. KJV
In the beginning the Word already existed. he was with God and he was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. Tyndale.
The Lord existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine.
He was with God in the very beginning;
through him all existence came into being. Moffatt.
The final example is the one which is the saddest and most telling.
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. KJV
The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along the right paths, bringing honor to his name.
Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
You prepare a feast for me win the presence of my enemies. You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. Tyndale
The Eternal shepherds me, I lack for nothing;
he makes me lie in meadows green,
he leads me to refreshing streams,
he revives life in me.
He guides me by true paths,
as he himself is true.
My road may run through a glen of gloom,
but I fear no harm, for thou art beside me;
thy club, thy staff - the give me courage.
Thou art my host, spreading a
feast for me,
while my foes have to look on!
Thou hast poured oil upon my
head,
my cup is brimming over;
yes, and all through my life
Goodness, and Kindness wait on
me,
the Eternal's guest
within his household evermore. Moffatt
It is relevant that theologians imprint far too much as Moffatt does, in being caught up in their intellect, and that is what Moffatt teaches I believe. I had always pondered how it was that the same God, Inspiring men and women by the Holy Ghost could turn out a historical Matthew and a book of Love in John, on the same subject.
Isaiah is the greatest prose outside King David in the Psalms, and Jeremiah reveals none of this and barely touches upon it in Lamentations. It is not as the intellectuals muse that men create God in their own image, but that the Creation of God is either pure or it is corrupted by the flaws in mankind.
The Word is always Pure Light, when shown in crystal, but when it is in a glass warped by a human flaw, that Word then reflects the human more than God.
That is the lesson.
agtG
